An Awkward Savior
by x.lunamire
Summary: Why hadn't Ash just thought of drowning himself earlier? An Ash/Misty One-Shot. :91 of the 100-Theme Challenge:


**Title: **AnAwkward Savior

**Prompt: **#91: Drowning

**Pairings: **A bit of Ash/Misty, with a dash of meddling Brock, who seems to be appearing in all of my stories of late.

**Rating: **K

**Warnings: **LAME. Will be redone. No need to worry, I know it's awful.

**Notes: **Couldn't think of anything else for drowning. My Pokemon creativity has plummeted. Check out my profile please, send me a challenge or prompt. Reviews are lovely.

By the way, I'll probably update Oh, What A Dance tomorrow. Here's a hint: the prompt is 'Rejected'.

Read below and _then _tell me if you think I'm qualified to own Pokemon.

--

"_A word is dead when it is said, some say." _– **Emily Dickinson.**

--

She's got a boyfriend, now, apparently.

His arm is resting on the curve of her shoulder, and he laughs at what she's giggling about, and Ash fights the urge to blow chunks into her pool.

He's disgusting, really, with shaggy brown hair and eyes grey like the sky on a cloudy day (her words). His skin is a golden shade, his jaw is chiseled, and a section of his obnoxiously-defined abs is covered by his blue swim trunks.

He leans a bit to the side, to whisper something into her ear, and she turns several shades of red, giggling hysterically. From above water, Brock jiggles his eyebrows at Ash, and Ash turns away.

He doesn't even want to think about it.

Misty has a whole bunch of friends at her gym today, and the pool seemed like a good idea on a hot day like this. Ash's opinion, of course, changed when Misty refused to leave her boyfriend's side.

According to The Stud and Misty's story - well, _his _story, her goofy, love-struck smile - she had saved him from an angry Growlithe. It had chased him, barking and snarling, into an empty alleyway, and he was prepared to be ripped to shreds - "So you're _not _a Pokemon trainer?" scoffed Ash - when Misty appeared, and miraculously rescued him with her arsenal of water Pokemon.

"And everyone knows you can't just save someone's life and not expect everything to change," Misty had said when his story was done. Ash just rolled his eyes.

"Who's named _Maynard _anyway?"

"You're just jealous," Brock replies, grinning at the lovebirds.

One of Misty's hands is on Maynard's chest and the other is clasped in his. Ash is so nauseous he almost disregards Brock's words.

"Jealous!? Of what?" His voice is a little too loud, just a bit too hysterical to be legitimate, but Brock doesn't comment on that.

"I think you know, you're just too immature to admit it," is his retort, and Ash can't help thinking that his words ring a bell; they sound a bit familiar, and not in a comforting way.

Three hours later, when Misty's friends finally convince her and her boy toy to join them in the pool, Ash frowns and leaps into the water. It's quiet under the surface, and warm, so he ventures even deeper to touch the pool floor.

He feels the gentle strain of his lungs, which means he'll need to get to oxygen, and soon. He strokes his arms, but pauses when he realizes he can't move his left leg. Something is wrapped tightly and securely around his ankle. He tugs at the offending object, he can't see exactly what it is from his current angle, but the effort is in vain. He's still stuck fast underwater, and he'll be needing air within the next few seconds.

And suddenly, through clouding eyes, he sees a flash of skin pass before him. Fingers move around his lower leg, and he is freed. A pair of hands find their way to his armpits, and his savior is lifting his limp body up, up, up until his face breaks the surface.

He gasps for air, flailing his arms spectacularly when the fingers disappear from his underarms. And his hero is floating about a foot in front of him and smiling mockingly, and Ash doesn't know quite what to say.

Because suddenly she's _much _closer than just a foot, and her red hair is clinging to the sides of her face, and her hand is still splayed along the expanse of his arm, and lame Maynard has been forgotten.

"You can't just save someone and not expect everything to change," she says slowly, not looking away from his wide eyes, and Ash is frozen in place because her voice is deeper than usual and it kind of scares him.

In a good way of course.

--

"And… here you go. There's the last of what I owe you."

"Y'know, I probably would've done it for half of what you paid me!"

"So now you tell me," Brock mutters under his breath.

"Well you said she was pretty! You didn't tell me how frickin' _hot _she was!"

Not that he doesn't find his female best friend attractive, but Brock isn't really in the mood to here this. "Um, yeah, okay…"

"Not to mention she's a _really _good kisser and -"

"Okay! Okay, okay, okay! I get it! Can you stop before I throw up?"

"Sure," Maynard laughs, taking his money and beckoning his Growlithe out of the Cerulean City Gym forever.

--

[_"I say it just begins to live that day."_]

--Lunamire


End file.
